A/N- Ay yi yi. I can't believe its been so long since I updated again. Unfortunately, keeping up with two novel length stories is more difficult than I thought it would be, but I don't want to stop either of them. So, here's the solution I came up with, which will hopefully work. I'll try working on both stories still, but I may end up posting multiple chapters in a row of this story or Listen With Your Heart. I probably won't be uploading them together anymore, but I will keep both of them going. I'm not abandoning either story, I'm simply concentrating on each in turn. Hopefully, this will keep me from going so long in between updates. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter!
Blackmage718- I'm glad you like this story, I'm trying to make it as unique as possible. Though, Peter having a family is unique in itself, I suppose. Hope to see more of your reviews!
greeneyed*redhead- Hehe, okay, okay, I'm writing ;)
~*Obsessed~With~Snuffles*~ - I'm glad you liked my explanation of the Beauxbatons houses, it took me a while to think them up. I doubt Beauxbatons is really like that, but its nice to think so :) As for Draco, we'll find out about him soon enough. And yes, Ron is rather irrational right now, but he'll get some sense eventually, one way or another.
Alynna Lis Eachann- The "Misfits" were fun to create, even though I absolutely despise Creevey. He'll be used as little as possible, but he seemed a perfect addition to the misfit group. At least they all take pride in the fact that they're different :)
Sabrina Potter- Lol, I want a Sirius shirt! Course, anything to do with Sirius, I want ;) And nope, I'm not changing my story just cuz JKR wrote another book. My idea started first, and I'm not changing it just because she screwed things up for me, lol.
Echo of Darkness- I certainly hope this story does rock, because I'm working hard to make it uinique and interesting. Glad you like it too! (Love the name, btw!)
PhantomTzipora- Well, knowing Lucius, its not going to be anything good. But I promise, we'll find out what he's plotting soon enough.
Bobo2- Hehe, when the Malfoy clan is plotting, your safest bet is to run for the hills. We'll find out what they're up to in a chapter or so though.
Paige- Hehe, nope, there won't be any Colin/Perdita (mostly because I hate that little creep with a passion) As for Draco, you'll find out eventually :)
Vereniel Greenleaf- Yeah, Ron is being quite a prat right now, but don't worry. Ginny will beat some sense into him soon enough.
Ayla Lupin- Hehe, you know me, I could never leave Neville out. Too bad Book 5 makes this story pretty much impossible, but I don't care, I'm doing it anyway! Plus, I think the readers would lynch me if I stopped writing this story altogether...
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"That is the teacher?" Perdita whispered to Ginny as Flitwick climbed onto his usual pile of books. Their first class of the year happened to be Charms. It also happened to be one of Perdita's worst subjects.
"Yup." Ginny answered. "He's really nice though, and he really knows his subject."
"All right, settle down now, class." Flitwick smiled. "Well, its nice to see you all back from the summer holidays. And I see we have a new face this year."
Perdita was now trying her best to hide behind her text book. She had always been shy, and hated being called on during class for any reason. Luckily, Flitwick didn't say any more about her.
"Now, we'll be trying something fairly easy to start out with." Flitwick began. "You will be learning the Summoning Charm. It has a simple wand movement, like so. The charm is Accio. Together now."
"Accio." the class repeated.
"Very good. You will be practicing on these cushions, just to be safe. Most of you should have no problem. Just wave your wand like so, and say Accio Cushion." Flitwick demonstrated. One of the cushions flew at him, landing at his feet. The class began trying it for themselves.
Ginny got it almost immediately, though she wasn't expecting it. The cushion flew at her suddenly, hitting her in the face. She and Perdita began laughing. They weren't the only ones. Most of the class was laughing at their own successes and failures with the Summoning Charm. Perdita, however, did not fare so well with her attempts. After more tries than she cared to count, her cushion had yet to do more than tremble slightly. The more frustrated she got, the harder it became for her.
"Accio cushion!" she shouted furiously. Instead of soaring towards her, the cushion exploded, sending feathers everywhere. Perdita yelped in surprise and fell backwards out of her chair. She got to her feet, blushing brightly, and almost dove back under the desk when she saw everyone was staring at her and her now charred cushion.
"Sorry." she whispered, getting back into her seat. She would have given anything to just disappear at that moment.
"No matter." Flitwick said kindly, repairing the cushion with a wave of his wand. "Sometimes these charms just take some practice. Keep trying, you'll get it in no time."
"Ginny?" Perdita whispered, her book now propped up in front of her face.
"Yeah?" she asked. She and Colin were now Summoning each other's cushions back and forth across the gaps in the between their desks.
"Is everyone still staring at me?"
"No, you're safe." Ginny smiled. Perdita's shyness reminded her of herself when she'd first come to Hogwarts. She could understand how her new friend felt, being in a strange new school and knowing hardly anybody.
"I can't believe I did that." Perdita moaned, letting her head drop onto the desk. "Ow. Or that."
"Don't worry." Ginny said reassuringly. "Its no big deal if you don't get it right. Neville's made plenty of things explode. And look at my brothers, Fred and George. Not a day goes by when they don't break or destroy something. Of course, they do it on purpose..."
"I suppose." Perdita said. "I just don't like everyone staring at me."
"Well, they aren't anymore, so you're fine." she smiled.
"Why do I 'ave to be so shy?" Perdita asked herself mentally.
Perdita stayed behind her textbook until she was sure her blush was gone. She waited patiently for class to end, still the only one who had been unable to perform the Summoning Charm correctly, and made her escape as quickly as she could. Ginny walked with her. She couldn't help noticing that Perdita kept her eyes on the floor the whole time.
She couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Perdita. She was even shyer than some of the first years, and seemed rather hard on herself when she messed up a spell. From what Ginny had seen, too, she was a bit clumsy on top of all that. Ginny seemed to be the only one who really talked to Perdita, outside of Neville and Colin. Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to be keeping a distance from her, for some reason. That was odd in itself. They were normally friendly with everyone. Ginny shrugged mentally and continued through the halls with Perdita. It was probably nothing to get worked up about, she told herself.
"Where is the Divination class?" Perdita asked at last, breaking the silence between them. She was glad she had Ginny to guide her, because she would have been lost in a second, especially being new to the school.
"Way up in North Tower." Ginny answered, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Good thing we have a while in between Charms and Divination, it takes practically forever to get all the way up there."
Perdita lapsed into silence again, just listening to Ginny talk about the Divination class. She told her which of their fellow Gryffindors took Divination, and some of the things Professor Trelawney had already taught them. Perdita had learned most of the same things at Beauxbatons already, so she was roughly at the same level as the rest of the class.
"What a long way to go for Divination." Perdita commented as they reached the top of what she hoped was the last flight of stairs. "I do not think even the Maison du Moineau was this 'igh up."
"Yeah, Trelawney is in the highest tower, apart from the Astronomy tower. She says it helps her Spiritual awareness." Ginny replied, rolling her eyes a bit. They reached the landing where Trelawney's ladder usually appeared.
"Where do we go from 'ere?" Perdita asked, looking around. She saw no signs of a classroom up there, just a dead end. Just then, the silvery ladder dropped down from the ceiling.
"Right up here." Ginny grinned, already starting to climb up. Perdita waited a few seconds before following, securing her bag to her back. She followed Ginny to a short table with poufs spread around it. The rest of the class was already settled in their usual spots. She recognized Colin Creevey in one corner, sitting with another boy from his dorm. Not many Gryffindor fourth years seemed to be taking Divination.
"What a strange classroom she 'as." Perdita commented, noticing the lack of desks, and the abundance of poufs and armchairs.
"Yes, it is a bit odd, isn't it?" Ginny agreed. "But then, so is she."
"Welcome, my dears," said a misty voice. Trelawney seemed to appear right out of thin air, sweeping over to her chair by the fire. Perdita was immediately reminded of a dragonfly, seeing Professor Trelawney. "Welcome to another year of Divination."
"Oh joy." Ginny muttered softly.
"We will be beginning with the crystal ball today." Trelawney began. "Now, some of you may be fortunate enough to See on your first try. Do not be discouraged if you do not, however. Not everyone has the talent."
Ginny rolled her eyes at the amount of drama Trelawney was trying to put into her speech. She had never Seen anything she was supposed to, but she still thought the subject was rather interesting, if you managed to ignore most of what Professor Trelawney said. Ron's method of making things up worked well during class, but she preferred trying to do her homework the right way, no matter how long it took. After Trelawney had passed out the Crystal balls, Ginny took her turn trying to do a reading for Perdita.
"Let's see..." Ginny said, peering into the crystal ball. "You're future...looks very foggy. How do I clear this thing up?"
Both girls suppressed giggles. It looked like they weren't the only ones having trouble. Only a few people had managed to see things right away. Ginny took a deep breath to calm herself down before she laughed loud enough that Professor Trelawney heard her. She was at Colin's table at the moment.
"All right, let's try this again." she said. She peered hard at the crystal ball. "Hey, I can actually see something this time."
"Really? What?" Perdita asked curiously.
"I can definitely see you, and what looks like...trees. I think you're in a forest or something." Ginny said, squinting a bit. "I think I can see someone else with you, but its too dark."
"Is it at night then?" Perdita asked.
"Looks like it. Where are the lights on this thing anyway?" Ginny asked, picking up the ball and examining it, as though looking for a Muggle light switch. Perdita had to suppress another wave of giggles. Ginny sighed and set the ball back down. "I can see you, because there's a beam of moonlight shining on you, but the other person is standing behind you, kind of in the shadows. You don't look afraid though, so I don't think you're going to be attacked or anything."
"That is good at least." Perdita said, relaxing a bit.
"I can't see anything else, its too dark. Here, you try now." Ginny said, sitting back. Perdita leaned forward to try to see something in the cloudy ball now.
"I can see you." she said after a moment. "And Ron. I think you are yelling at 'im."
"Nothing unusual about that." Ginny grinned. Perdita giggled again, stopping just as Professor Trelawney came to their table.
"How is everything going, dears?" she asked mistily.
"Just fine, Professor." Ginny answered. "We've both managed to see something."
"Wonderful." she replied. She happened to glance down at the ball them, and let out an audible gasp that drew everyone's attention.
"What?" Perdita asked, looking up at her.
"Oh, dears, it's the Grim!" she said dramatically. Ginny rolled her eyes while the rest of the class gathered around them. She could at least spend her summer coming up with something more original than seeing Grims all the time, she thought.
"The Grim?" Perdita asked blankly.
"Yes, the canine death omen." Professor Trelawney answered. "The Grim is in your crystal ball, locked in combat."
"Combat?" Ginny asked curiously. This was different than her usual predictions of Harry's death. Usually if she saw the Grim, it was just the Grim. Not a Grim fighting something else.
"Yes, it is fighting against a rat." Trelawney replied. Ginny rolled her eyes, as did most of the class. Her stories just kept getting stranger. Now a giant dog was fighting a little, tiny rat.
"I think we have done enough for today." Trelawney said at last, looking like she was going to have a heart attack. "Just leave the crystal balls on the tables for the next class."
With that, she swept back over to her arm chair by the fire in a flurry of silken scarves. Ginny shook her head in disbelief and started packing up her books. Perdita, however, was rather unsettled now. She wasn't used to Trelawney bouts of insanity like the rest of the class was. Ginny noticed this and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Is she always that...scary?" Perdita asked at last.
"No, this was one of her better days." Ginny grinned.
Seeing Ginny's lack of concern for Trelawney's vision made Perdita relax a little. Ginny would know better than her whether to worry or not about what Trelawney saw. Her growing hunger was overriding her concern anyway, and she was thankful that it was lunch time now. She overheard Colin talking to his partner about how the class just kept getting stranger and stranger, which made her feel better. Apparently, her predictions were nothing to get worked up about, if the rest of the class was so casual about her dark visions. Perdita followed Ginny down to the Great Hall, trying her best to memorize the path. She wanted to learn how to get around in the school, in case she ever had to do it without Ginny.
She recognized a few points of interest that her mother had mentioned to her when she was younger. Her mother had talked about Hogwarts often, and even though they lived in France, Perdita had secretly wished she could go to Hogwarts. Kassia made it sound so wonderful. Now, though, she'd rather have her mother back than be at Hogwarts. She felt tears sting her eyes, but fought them back. It wasn't fair, she thought, but there was nothing she could do about it. If only she'd gotten home sooner. She might have been able to get help for her mother. She could have done something, other than kneeling there with her as she died. Ginny was still talking, she realized, but Perdita was lost in her thoughts, only half listening to her friend. Ginny didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't mind doing all the talking. Perdita hadn't told anyone here that her mother was dead, let alone that she had been murdered. It was still sinking in for her. A part of her kept hoping her mother would show up suddenly, but the rest of her knew it was impossible. Maybe, if she got to know Ginny better, she might tell her what had happened to her mother. Her grandmother kept telling her it would help to talk about it.
"Here we are." Ginny's voice broke into Perdita's thoughts, and she realized that they were at the Great Hall. Most of the students were already there. Perdita noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione at one end of the Gryffindor table. Harry and Ron were talking, while Hermione had her nose buried in a book.
"What do we 'ave after lunch?" Perdita asked Ginny as they sat down and started filling their plates.
"Potions." Ginny answered, glancing at her schedule quickly. "Ooh, that isn't going to be fun. Snape's a git; he hates all Gryffindors."
"Oh great." Perdita said sarcastically.
"Hey Ron." Ginny said, leaning around Lavender and Parvarti to look at him. He didn't hear her. "Ron!"
"Huh?" he asked, jumping.
"Hi, I'm Earth, have we met?" Ginny grinned.
"Very funny, Ginny." Ron replied, rolling his eyes. "What did you want?"
"I just wanted to ask if you've had Snape yet."
"Thankfully, no. Why?"
"We have him next. Just wondering if you knew what kind of mood he's in."
"Ginny, it's Snape. He's in the same mood he's always in. Like something crawled up his-"
"Pass the salt, Harry." Hermione interrupted Ron before he got much farther. Harry laughed and handed the salt shaker to her.
"Good luck with Snape, Gin." Harry grinned.
"Thanks, we'll need it." Ginny grinned.
"Is 'e really that bad?" Perdita asked.
"Yeah, he is." Ginny replied. "He has it in for Harry especially. Poor Neville doesn't fare much better."
"Why doesn't 'e like you, 'arry?" Perdita asked. He didn't answer her. Perdita bit her lip and stared back at her food, pushing it around her plate idly. She didn't know why, but he, Ron, and Hermione seemed to avoid talking to her lately. She couldn't understand why, either. She couldn't think of anything she had done to make them stop liking her.
"Well, we better get going. If there's one thing you should never do, its be late for Snape's class." Ginny said, slinging her bag onto her back.
"Harry, that was really rude." Hermione scolded after Ginny and Perdita had left.
"What?" he asked, looking up from his plate.
"Perdita asked you a question and you ignored her."
"I didn't mean to." he replied honestly. "I was thinking about Sirius, and I didn't even hear her. She's just so quiet."
"Ignoring her sounds like a better idea." Ron mumbled. Hermione elbowed him. "Ow. Hey, what's with you today, Hermione?"
"I just don't think we should be giving her the cold shoulder like this." she admitted. "I mean, it's not her fault her father did what he did."
"Not ours either." Ron replied. Hermione glared at him but said nothing. She didn't feel like arguing with Ron today.
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"Sit down and be quiet." Snape barked at them as he entered the classroom. "We will be starting this year with poison antidotes. Your first one is on page 307 of your potions text."
Obediently, the class opened their books, flipping to the page as instructed.
"The instructions should be simple enough even for you lot to follow." he said nastily. "You have until the end of class."
Ginny was already setting up the cauldron, as Perdita got out the potions book. The potion didn't look too complicated, but then, Potions had never been Perdita's best subject. Nearby, Colin was partnering with one of the boys in his dorm. Perdita hoped Ginny knew what she was doing, because she certainly didn't.
"Let's see, first we add the ground Beetle eyes." Ginny mumbled to herself, already starting the potion. "What's it say to do next?"
"Add two sprigs of dried 'eather." Perdita replied.
"Dried what?" Ginny asked. She was still getting used to Perdita's accent.
" 'eather." Perdita repeated.
"What?"
"This." Perdita sighed, pointing to the page.
"Oh, heather." Ginny said. "Sorry."
"Its okay." Perdita told her.
"Hey Ginny, do you have any alligator bile? We're out." Colin asked from the next table.
"Yeah." Ginny said. "Go ahead and continue, Perdita, I'll be back in a sec."
"All right..." Perdita said, though sounding very unsure. She look at the next ingredient on the list. A dash of raspberry powder. Perdita picked up the vial to tap a little into the cauldron, when the top suddenly came off, and way too much poured into the cauldron. Oh no, she thought frantically. Before she could do anything, the cauldron started to melt, sending the half finished potion flowing across the table.
"Oh no, what happened?" Ginny asked, hurrying back over.
"The top came off, and it all poured into the cauldron." Perdita said, trying to mop up what she could.
"Let's just hope Professor Snape didn't-"
"Well well well." said a cold voice.
"Too late." Ginny mumbled so he couldn't hear.
"What is with you Gryffindors and melting cauldrons?" Snape hissed down at them. Ginny knew he was referring to Neville, but she suppressed the urge to fight back. It wasn't worth it.
"It was an accident." Perdita said lamely.
"Perhaps ten points from Gryffindor will ensure that it won't happen again." Snape sneered. Perdita was about to protest, but Ginny elbowed her. She stayed silent until Snape left to go torment Colin and his partner.
"What was that for?" Perdita asked, rubbing her ribs where Ginny elbowed her.
"Sorry." Ginny apologized. "But Snape would have loved for you to argue with him. It would give him an excuse to take even more points off. The only students he actually likes are his own Slytherins."
"This 'ouse rivalry is going to take some getting used to..." Perdita thought quietly, watching Snape walk away to praise his Slytherins even further.
Every once in a while, Snape would look over at her and glare, unbeknownst to Perdita, or anyone else for that matter. She's as pathetic at Potions as her father was, he thought to himself. Dumbledore had explained Perdita's situation to the staff before the term had started. It was unusual for the Headmaster to gather the staff just to talk about one of the students, but Perdita had been an unusual case. There had not been a transfer student to Hogwarts in decades. She was the granddaughter of a member of the Order of the Phoenix, as well as the daughter of the man who had helped restore Voldemort to power. Did she have to look so much like that rat, he thought angrily. But then he saw her smile at something Weasley was saying to her. That smile was most definitely Kassia's.
The bell rang at that moment, and all the students scrambled out of the classroom, leaving Severus lost in his thoughts. He sat down at his desk. He had been surprised just how much it had shocked him when Dumbledore had told the staff that Kassia had been murdered. It surprised him even more to realize that he actually missed her a little. They'd never exactly been friendly to each other during school. To him, she had been a Mudblood; one of those Gryffindors who always hung around Potter and his little gang. To Kassia, he was the Slytherin who tormented her almost as much as he had Evans. And yet...she was the only Gryffindor who had ever smiled at him. Every time he had called her a Mudblood, or made fun of her in some other way, she never cried, or got angry like Evans had. All she did was smile at him and walk away.
Severus sighed and closed his eyes. As he thought about Kassia, one memory in particular came floating back to him, of their last year at Hogwarts.
"Watch it!" Severus snarled as he slammed into Kassia in the library. She stumbled back and almost fell, but managed to stay standing. He stood there, glaring at her, as she calmly reached down and picked up the book he had dropped.
"You dropped this." she said, handing it to him. He snatched it away from her.
"Out of my way, Mudblood." he spat at her. Kassia merely gave him that serene smile of hers and walked away. It made him even more furious. She never retaliated! What was the fun in insulting her if she never reacted?
Severus turned away and went back to searching the shelves. It was only a few seconds before he heard two people on the other side of the shelf talking. Peeking surreptitiously through a gap in the books, he saw Kassia and Lily sitting at a table, working on their homework. They were talking about him, he realized suddenly.
"He's such a creep." Lily said. "Doesn't he have anything better to do than insult people? I just hope he doesn't come over here and start up again."
"He probably won't." Kassia said, flattening out some parchment. "He just called me a Mudblood. He's around here somewhere, probably studying for the NEWT's"
"I don't know how you stand it." Lily said, shaking her head. "How can you not get upset when he calls you a Mudblood? He's almost as horrible towards you as he is to me, and I can barely stand it. Sometimes I just want to hex the living daylights out of him."
"Really?" Kassia actually sounded surprised.
"Yeah, don't you?" Lily asked, sounding surprised now also.
"Well, we all know I couldn't do a hex to save my life." Kassia laughed. Lily laughed too before speaking again.
"Seriously, though, don't you just hate him sometimes?"
"Not really." Kassia said honestly.
"How can you not hate him? He's a jerk." Lily said. Kassia shrugged slightly.
"I don't hate him because I'm not going to let him win." she said after a moment. Severus blinked silently. What did she mean by that? Lily seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"Win? What do you mean win?" she asked, confused. Kassia put her quill down as she answered.
"My dad used to have a saying, before he died." she began in her usual quiet tone. "Others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. Then, you destroy yourself. I'm not going to let Snape win. I won't hate him back."
"Your dad sounds like he was a really wise person." Lily said at last.
"He was." Kassia said with a note of sadness in her tone. "He also used to tell me that everyone has some good in them. Even people like Snape."
"If he does, its very well hidden." Lily said, turning back to her homework.
"Maybe." Kassia said with a small laugh. "But either way, I'm not going to let him win. Besides, it seems like nothing annoys him more than seeing me refuse to retaliate."
"Severus?" a voice suddenly interrupted Severus' thoughts. His eyes snapped open; he hadn't even heard the person walk in. He looked up to see Professor Dumbledore standing before him. He had to blink a few times to convince himself that he was really in his dungeon classroom, and not in the library, listening to Kassia and Lily talking about him.
"Sorry, Headmaster." Severus said, getting to his feet. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Perfectly all right, Severus." Dumbledore assured him. "You looked a little lost in thought anyway."
"You could say that." Severus said simply. More like lost in the past, he thought. "Was there something you needed?"
"You did not show up for the regular staff meeting." Dumbledore said. "I only wondered if everything was okay."
"Everything is fine, I was just...distracted after class. I forgot about the meeting, and lost track of time." Severus answered truthfully.
"Quite all right, I just wanted to make sure." Dumbledore answered with his usual half smile. "You did not miss much, only Argus' usual complaints about the lack of suitable punishments for rulebreakers."
Severus' mouthed twitched as he came close to smiling. It was gone a second later, however, and Dumbledore was turning to leave anyway.
"Headmaster." Severus said before he had reached the door. "About the...assignment you gave me, just before the term started."
"Yes, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, turning to face him again.
"What are you planning to do?" he asked, before he decided to change his mind. "If the Mark really does affect them as you believe it does-"
"We will worry about that when the time comes." Dumbledore interrupted. "Until then, we can only wait until we see the signs."
"Yes, Headmaster." Severus said with a nod. He would have preferred to know what Dumbledore planned to do, but experience had told him that no power on earth could force information out of the old Headmaster. Only time would tell.